Report from Recent Trip

During the week before the Construction Team left for Haiti, Jess Hornsby was down there with Dr. Mitch Mutter's team. He wrote this very dramatic note for our Newsletter which underscores the need for our help for HSC.

How are things in Haiti?  In a word, "stable".  I just returned from Leogane on Saturday, March 12 after a week at HSC with a medical team led by Dr. Mitch Mutter.
We arrived in Port-au-Prince to lots of sunshine and 95 degree heat.  The trip from the airport to Leogane was uneventful.  We saw UN forces along the way but no great concentrations anywhere.  The traffic was typical Haitian, lots of people and lots of cars appearing to be going everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Hospital Sainte Croix continues to be the "oasis in the desert" for the people of Leogane.  On Sunday night, a terrible taptap accident brought 13 people to the ER.  No identification, no money, lots of pain, broken bones, lacerations and pleading eyes that said "help me, please."  By the grace of God, Mitch Mutter MD, Chris Moore MD, Debbie Hoback RN, Lisa Johnson PhD and Mark Brown RN were there, in that place, at that time, when they were needed most to care for the injured.  The one Haitian doctor and one Haitian nurse would have been overwhelmed by the situation.  Fortunately, no one died. 
The three most seriously injured were transferred to a hospital in Port-au-Prince with the help of the Sri Lankan troops and their ambulance stationed in Leogane.  Two of the three probably had limbs amputated once they reached PAP.  The third, with a serious head injury, had already fooled our doctors by not dying in the ER.  Hopefully, he is now on the road to recovery.
For the rest of the week, again, we received far more than we gave in this desperately poor place.  Thank God and thank you, the people of Rivermont, for letting us be there and do these things. -Jess Hornsby